The Truth About Color
by bandgeek18
Summary: Kevin and Antonio have an off-day after racist remarks are directed towards them, and discuss their effect. Written for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. One-shot.


Disclaimer: I don't own them. Not even a little bit. It's that sad?

_*Italic indicates thought_

A/N: hey guys. So in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I've written this. yet literally came to me at seven this morning. Warning: contains racist remarks and names. Also, i dont oen the song "This Is My Wish" by Jordin Sparks. Read onwards!

Antonio was happily selling fish on the national holiday. People had the day off from work and school, so he suspected it would be a good day to sell. "Hey, amigos!" he greeted. "What's up?"

"Ji kicked us out of the house," Mike said.

"That's a shame. How come?"

"Said something about enjoying the nice day," Mia said. "He said we didn't have training today on account of the fact it's Martin Luther King Day."

"Cool," Antonio said.

"Sold any fish yet?" Kevin asked.

"Some, but I won't sell much more if you five don't move."

Jaydnen laughed. "Alright. We'll see you later."

"Adios." Antonio waved them off and went back to selling fish. "Ahola, señor," he said to a passing man. "Might I interest you in some fish today?"

The man stopped and smirked a bit. "You want to sell me fish?"

"Si. Caught and prepared by me."

"You prepared it? Like cleaned it and everything?"

"I can assure you," Antonio replied picking up one of the fish. "These fish have been cleaned good."

The mean smirked more. "How can you even tell when something's clean with hands like those?"

Antonio didn't understand what he was talking about for a couple moments. He looked at his hands, then realized what the man meant. He felt his cheeks bruning and his throat go dry. He set the fish down. "Señor, my fish are some of the freshest. I can sure you, they're perfectly fine."

"And I should take the word of someone who can't even speak English properly?"

"I-"

"So, no I don't want to by your fish. Why should I buy from a dirty, fence-hopping, alien?" The man tuned and left.

Antonio though, felt sick to his stomach. He took a few deep breaths and a drink of water from his bottle. _It's ok,_ he thought. _Don't worry about it._ He controlled his composure and went back to selling fish.

-The Truth About Color-

Kevin split off from the other rangers for a bit, deciding on some alone time. He walked through the park, smiling to himself. He saw a small crowd gathered around something and went to investigate. He discovered it was a group of three dancers. He stood in the crowd, watching the three men. _Mike would've liked this._

"Typical," someone said behind him.

"Ain't it true," said someone else. "The three ghetto looking negroes dancing."

"Bunch of dark skinned losers."

"The only use black people have is in the fields."

"You said it."

Kevin heard them retreat and bit his tongue. He tired not let what they'd said get to him. He suddenly felt nausea. _Maybe I should go find the others,_ he thought moving ways from the performers.

-The Truth About Color-

When Antonio returned to the Shiba House he was surprised to see Kevin sitting on a bench in the yard. "Ahola."

"Hey," Kevin relied looking at him. "What's up?"

Antonio sighed. "My days been- never mind."

"Yeah. Mine too," Kevin said.

Antonio stopped and looked at him for a minute. He sat down next to Kevin. "Oh really? What happened?"

Kevin rubbed his hands together. "I was watching some streets performers earlier today when I heard some guys behind me saying...things."

"What kind of things?"

"Racists things. They said it was typical that the dancers were dark. And the only place people- people like me have is in the fields." Kevin looked at the ground. "I know what they were implying."

"I'm sorry Kevin," Antonio said.

"Why was your day rough?"

It was Antonio's turn to sigh now and rub the backs of his hands. "I was stupid enough to try and sell fish to some guy. He made a remark, asking me how I could tell the fish were clean on account of my hands." Kevin glanced at the gold ranger's tan hands and understood what they guy had meant. "Then he asked me why he should by fish from a dirty, fence-hopping, alien."

"Alien?"

"Illegal alien," Antonio said.

"Oh. But you're not an illegal."

"I know I that. People just...say things like that. They do it to get under my skin."

"I know," Kevin said. "Our dark skin."

Antonio nodded. "I just don't understand why people could act like that."

"I know. It's like they think they're better than you just because they're white. Most people aren't like that, but those that are just-"

"Unbelievable. I've lost count of the number of times people have "threatened" to call immigration on me."

"Just becaus you're Hispanic doesn't make you a immigrant, or even an illegal one."

"I know. And just because you're African-American doesn't mean you belong as a slave."

"The first time anyone ever made fun of me because of my skin. My dad told me not to worry about it. He said that it didn't matter."

"My dad told me the same thing. He said that I should be proud of my heritage. No matter what anybody tells me."

"And you should," Kevin nodded. "I just wonder sometimes what goes through the minds of racists."

"I don't know, and I don't want to. They're all stupid. People in general are accepting, but there's always that one person. Or two in our case."

Kevin nodded. "You know what I think?"

"What?"

"The truth about this is, it real doesn't matter. The color of our skin isn't important."

Antonio nodded. "I know. As they say, it's what's on the inside that counts. That's why I like Martin Luther King Day so much. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great guy who stood up for what was right."

"Even if the rest of the world thought he was wrong," Kevin said. "He was a hero, and a great leader."

"A true man of value and principles. You know what? Forget those guys. I'm proud of being Hispanic."

"Good. And I'm proud to be African-American."

"When some kids at school started making fun of me, my dad took me to a library, and we looked at books on Hispanic people who changed the world."

"That's nice."

"Yeah. We shouldn't let people get to us."

"It's hard though, when they attack your heritage like that."

"I know it. But we'll be ok."

"Yeah. Hey, I have an idea. There's a vigil tonight. We should go with the others."

"Sounds fantastico. Come on." The two of them got up and went inside. "Hey, amigos," Antonio said.

"Hey Antonio, what's up?" Jaydne asked.

"Antonio and I had this idea that we should all go to Martin Luther King Jr. vigil tonight."

"I think that's a good idea," Mia said.

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "It'll be fun."

Jayden nodded, studying the gold and blue rangers carefully. "I agree."

-The Truth About Color-

A few hours later the rangers were standing in a park holding candles. There were a lot of people all standing in front of a stage where three people stood. Two men and a woman; all of them were different races. One of ht even was African-American; the woman was white; and the second man was ether Hispanic or Native American.

"Mike, you're going to burn yourself," Emily said, watching as the green ranger played with the flame on his candle.

"No, I've done this loads of times before. Don't worry it's safe."

"Greetings," said one of the men; the African-American one. "I'm very glad to see so many people, from all walks of life here. This is the very thing, Dr. King would've wanted. All of us coming together, despite our differences."

"Yes," the woman said. "We're here to remember Dr. King, but also to celebrate our differences. Right now, I want each of you to think of someone who did something significant. Someone of your ethnicity who isn't in the history books, but should be. Go on now. Shout it out!"

It took a minute, but a couple of people started shouting names and accomplishments.

"Franklin Chang-Diaz!" Antonio yelled. "First haipanic-American astronaut!"

Kevin smiled. "John Baxter Taylor! First African-American to win an Olympic gold medal!"

The other rangers smiled at each other, glad their friends were having fun. Mia decided to join in.

"Haing Gnor! First Asian to win an academy award!"

"Madame C. J. Walker!" said Emily. "The first woman of any race to earn a million dollars!"

"That's right!" the third man said. "And there's one thing all these people have in common."

"They're all American!" the woman said. "As are we all. Dr. King's message about equality never dies. Equality extends to all Americans of every walk of life."

"Everyone should feel welcome here. All our citizens are the same. And that's what today is all about. It's about all of us here untied as one. Only by staying united, and accepting others for their differences can we hope to achieve peace."

The three of them stood side by side, smiling at the audience.

"This is my wish. My wish for the world. That peace will find its way to every girl and boy. Fill the air with joyful noise. Ring the bells and riade your voice. Let there be peace on earth."

Everyone in the crowd joined on the singing; including the samurai.

"This is my wish. My wish for the world. That peace will find its way to every boy and girl. Fill the air with joyful noise. Ring the bells and rasie your voice. Let there be peace on Earth. Let there be peace on Earth."

Kevin felt his spirits lift. It didn't matter if not everyone here really believed what was being said. The point was they were all together now. Right in that moment everyone accepted the person next to them. He also noticed, Antonio, along with several other people, were singing the song in Spanish.

"Este es mi deseo. Mi deseo para el mundo. Aquella paz encontraría su camino. A cada muchacho y muchacha. Llene el aire del ruido alegre. Toque las campanas y levante su voz. Deje allí ser la paz en la Tierra. Deje allí ser la paz en la Tierra."

The gold ranger happily sang in Spnaish. He knew today wouldn't be the last time he was on the recovering end of racist remarks. But it was times like this; when he was accepted and loved that made it all worth it. Why let a few bad apples ruin the whole barrel?

He smiled. _I will always be proud to be me. No matter what anyone says._ He caught Kevin's eye and they winked at each other. Their bad day seemed to have never happened. They knew they'd be ok.

A/N: hello again. So this is my short rant: I personally live in a place where there isn't a lot of racial diversity. However, I've never witnessed racism first hand. It doesn't matter what color you are, you're still a person. Everyone deserves to be treated equally. Thanks for reading and please review!


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